DCAU #109: A Soldier's Story

IN THIS ONE... Two armies of Napoleonic-era armies face each other in Gotham.

CREDITS: Written by Dan Raspler; art by Mike Parobeck and Rick Burchett.

REVIEW: A good way to approach on-off Batman stories that don't use the usual rogues is to make it about strange crimes. It plays into the detective angle, and the crazy, lurid aspects of Batman's pulp origins, with opportunities for off-beat action. A Soldier's Story delivers just such a story.

Though the two rival octogenarian heirs to the fortunes of their 100+-year-old fathers are Akham material, playing out the toy soldier wars they used to wage as children with Gotham's pool of henchmen, there's no real chance, at their age, of becoming recurring foes. That shouldn't matter, as they almost aren't in the story. Instead, Batman has to investigate, then deal with armies of soldiers in period uniform and armament, and it has the feeling of old Silver Age stories where he would have gone back in time and participated in history. Batman on a horse, am I right? Best of all, he uses the fact the soldiers are using muskets and cannons, those specific strengths and weaknesses, to stop them. Clever stuff.